Grateloupia turuturu Yamada
Previously reported from the NE Atlantic as Grateloupia doryophora (Montagne) Howe
Common name: Devil's Tongue Weed.
Description: Fronds 1-6 from a small disc, broadly
lanceolate, light to darkish reddish-brown, drying to a more
purplish colour; generally undivided with undulating margins; to
600 mm ( on occasion to 1 m), and 20 to 200 mm broad,
mucilagnous, sliperly and limp. Occasionally producing marginal
proliferations, particularly when damaged; surfaced becoming
irrelular and tortupus when older. Reproductive cystocarps
apparen as small blackish dots.
Habitat: Harbours and inlets, particularly in sheltered
habitats where it is often found growing on small stones in
muddy situations. Often on marinas and pontoons. Occasionally in
the subtidal to 7 m, but essentially a lower intertidal and
shallow subtidal species.
Distribution: South and SW Britain and NE
Ireland (marina at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim; October 2017), and
spreading. Introduced around 1969 to England. NW Atlantic France
and Spain, Portugal south to the Canary Islands and the west
coast of Africa. Also introduced into Rhode Island and
California, USA. In Asia known from Russia, Japan, Korea and
China.
Similar species: Cryptonemia hibernica, also an
introduced species from the Pacific, is very rare in the
subtidal of Co. Cork in Ireland and Plymouth, England, is less
mucilaginous, thinner, and has a distincly obovate outline.
Identification guide for selected marine non-native species (National Museum Wales). (Download free PDF, about 3.5 Mb).
Photographs:
Cornwall © David Fenwick, Snr.
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